1.
Heinrich von Bibra
–
Heinrich von Bibra, Prince-Bishop, Prince-Abbot of Fulda was Prince-Bishop from 1759 to 1788. Born in 1711 at Schnabelwaid as Karl Sigmund, he was raised in a household with ten brothers and sisters. He entered the Benedictine Order in 1730 receiving the name Heinrich and he studied philosophy, theology, and law. Six years later he traveled to Rome, in 1759 immediately after his selection as Prince Bishop and Abbot of Fulda, he had to flee his realm as it was overrun by both the French and the Hessians in the Seven Years War. Finally with peace in 1763, he undertook the rebuilding of Fulda, rising at 4 am each morning, he was an energetic and enlightened ruler. With currency reform came sound money and he built roads, bridges, housing, churches, and orphanages. He improved the spa at Brückenau, had the land surveyed for minerals, the porcelain works was disbanded shortly after his death. He provided freedom of religion, forbidding mistreatment of Jews and employed Protestants alongside Catholics in his administration, beginning in 1777 with the exception of the theological faculty every Protestant could acquire academic degrees in all faculties of the University of Fulda. Along with libraries around the land, he introduced a school system which was one of the best of his time. Heinrich-von-Bibra-Schule a Realschule in Fulda is named after him, during Heinrich’s reign Fulda owned Schloss Johannisberg. The origin of the late harvest riesling of Johannisberg originated in 1775. The story is that producers at Schloss Johannisberg traditionally awaited the permission of the owner before cutting their grapes. In, Gerhard Pfeiffer, Fränkische Lebensbilder, Bd,4, Würzburg 1971, 213-229, WILHELM FREIHERR VON BIBRA, Beiträge zur Familien-Geschichte der Reichsfreiherm von Bibra, Bd. München 1870, 148-150, A. GNAU, Das kirchliche Wirken Heinrich VIII, JOSEF LEINWEBER, Die Fuldaer Äbte und Bischöfe, Frankfurt a. M. 1989, 159-163, MICHAEL MÜLLER, Fürstbischof Heinrich von Bibra und die katholische Aufklärung im Hochstift Fulda, wandel und Kontinuität des kirchlichen Lebens,451 pp. Fulda 2005. PETER ADOLPH WINKOPP, Beiträge zur Lebensgeschichte Heinrich des achten Fürstbischofen zu Fulda, Beiträge zum zweihundertjährigen Bestehen der Hessischen Landesbibliothek Fulda 269-293, F. ZWENGER, Heinrich v. Bibra. Fürstbischof von Fulda, in, BuBl 4 139f,148, Coinarchivess Photos and information on completed coin sales of Heinrich von Bibra coins Heinrich von Bibra Page on vonbibra. net Heinrich-von-Bibra-Schule

2.
Johann Franz Bessel
–
Johann Franz Bessel was a German Benedictine abbot and historian. He entered the Benedictine Order at Göttweig on the Danube, Lower Austria,15 June 1692, in 1699 he was summoned to the electoral court of Mainz by Archbishop Lothar Franz von Schonborn, who immediately sent him to Rome to study the curial practice of the Rota Romana. He made three journeys to Rome to settle differences between the pope and the emperor concerning the limits of the province of Commacchio, Abbot Bessel was the second founder of Göttweig, which became, under his rule of thirty-five years, a centre of learning. He added to the rare Hebrew, Greek, and Roman coins and bracteates collections of engravings, minerals, shells. By the expenditure of princely sums he enriched the library with thousands of volumes, chiefly on historical subjects, as well as incunabula, himself a thorough scholar, he encouraged among his religious all undertakings of a scientific or artistic nature. When the abbey was almost totally destroyed by fire, he gathered, by judicious management, personally, Abbot Bessel was a retiring religious, presenting to all a shining example of monastic piety and virtue. The work which brought him lasting renown and a place in the records of the science of history is entitled Chronicon Gottwicense, the author also discusses medieval geography, as well as the royal palace-domains and the various districts of Germany. Great learning and clear critical acumen distinguish this work, which marked an epoch in the history of German diplomatics, albert, Gottfried Bessel und das Chronicon Gottwicense in Freiburger Diocesan-Archiv. Catholic Encyclopedia article This article incorporates text from a now in the public domain, Herbermann, Charles

3.
Adolphus von Dalberg
–
Though he was not a bishop, Dalberg had quasi-episcopal jurisdiction on the territory belonging to the abbey and held a diocesan synod in 1729. This privilege of quasi-episcopal jurisdiction was granted to the abbots of Fulda by Pope Zachary in 751, Dalberg spared no pains to improve the Roman Catholic educational facilities of Fulda. Dalberg hoped to restore in all its splendour the ancient seat of learning which had made Fulda world-renowned during the Middle Ages, with this end in view he founded a university at Fulda which came to be known after his own name as the Alma Adolphina. Pope Clement XII granted the charter of foundation on 1 July 1732, and Emperor Charles VI, the solemn inauguration of the university took place on 19 September 1733. Adolphus von Dalberg died on 3 November 1737 at Hammelburg in Lower Franconia and his foundation, the Adolphina, was however not destined to be of long duration. This article incorporates text from a now in the public domain, Herbermann, Charles

4.
Saint Pirmin
–
Saint Pirmin, also named Pirminius, was a monk, strongly influenced by Celtic Christianity and Saint Amand. He originated from the surroundings of Narbonne, possible of Visigothic origin, from 718 onwards, he was abbot of the monastery Quortolodora in Antwerp and, together with its pupils, the minister of the church inside the broch, het Steen. In the 12th century, this church was dedicated to Saint Walpurga, after a while Pirmin was invited by count Rohingus to stay at his villa in Thommen, near Sankt Vith in the Ardennes. Pirmin gained the favour of Charles Martel and he was sent to help rebuild Disentis Abbey in Switzerland. In 724, he was appointed abbot of Mittelzell Abbey at Reichenau Island, for political reasons he was banished to Alsace. In 753, he died in the abbey at Hornbach, where his body is entombed, Pirmins missionary work mainly took place in the Alsace and the upper area of the Rhine and the Danube. Besides actively preaching and converting, he founded or reformed many monasteries, such as those at Amorbach, Gengenbach, Murbach, Wissembourg. Pirmin secured endowments from area nobility, Odilo of Bavaria financed the foundation of Niederaltaich Abbey, the most important of Pirmins books is Dicta Abbatis Pirminii, de Singulis Libris Canonicis Scarapsus. The book collects quotations from Church Fathers and scriptures, presumably for use by missionaries, written between 710-724, it contains the earliest appearance of the present text of the Apostles Creed. Http, //www. santiebeati. it/dettaglio/76055 Saint Boniface Saint Willibrord Schottenklöster

5.
Rabanus Maurus
–
Rabanus Maurus Magnentius, also known as Hrabanus or Rhabanus, was a Frankish Benedictine monk and theologian who became archbishop of Mainz in Germany. He was the author of the encyclopaedia De rerum naturis and he also wrote treatises on education and grammar and commentaries on the Bible. He was one of the most prominent teachers and writers of the Carolingian age, in the most recent edition of the Roman Martyrology, his feast is given as February 4th and he is qualified as a Saint. Rabanus was born of parents in Mainz. The date of his birth remains uncertain, but in 801 he received was ordained a deacon at Benedictine Abbey of Fulda in Hesse, at the insistence of Ratgar, his abbot, he went together with Haimon to complete his studies at Tours. There he studied under Alcuin, who in recognition of his diligence and purity gave him the surname of Maurus, after the disciple of Benedict. It was probably at this period that he compiled his excerpt from the grammar of Priscian, according to Butlers Lives of the Saints, Rabanus ate no meat and drank no wine. In 814 Rabanus was ordained a priest, shortly afterwards, apparently on account of disagreement with Abbot Ratgar, he withdrew for a time from Fulda. This banishment has long understood to have occasioned a pilgrimage to Palestine. However, the passage in question is taken from Origens Homily xiv In Librum Jesu Nave, hence, it was Origen, not Rabanus, who visited Palestine. Rabanus returned to Fulda in 817 on the election of a new abbot, Eigil and he handled this position efficiently and successfully, but in 842 he resigned so as to have greater leisure for study and prayer, retiring to the neighbouring monastery of St Petersberg. In 847 Rabanus was constrained to return to life when he was elected to succeed Otgar as Archbishop of Mainz. He died at Winkel on the Rhine in 856, Rabanus composed a number of hymns, the most famous of which is the Veni Creator Spiritus. This is a hymn to the Holy Spirit often sung at Pentecost and it is known in English through many translations, including Come, Holy Ghost, our souls inspire, Come, Holy Ghost, Creator blest, and Creator Spirit, by whose aid. Veni Creator Spiritus was used by Gustav Mahler as the first chorale of his eighth symphony, Rabanus works, many of which remain unpublished, comprise commentaries on scripture, and various treatises relating to doctrinal and practical subjects, including more than one series of homilies. In De institutione clericorum he brought into prominence the views of Augustine, among the others may be mentioned the De universo libri xxii. All of them are characterized by erudition, in the annals of German philology a special interest attaches to the Glossaria Latino-Theodisca. In 2006 Germans marked the 1150th anniversary of his death, especially in Mainz, the anniversary also saw the publication of no fewer than three book-length studies of Maurus and his work

6.
Bardo (bishop)
–
Bardo was the Archbishop of Mainz from 1031 until 1051, the Abbot of Werden from 1030 until 1031, and the Abbot of Hersfeld in 1031. Bardo was born in Oppershofen in the Wetterau and he was educated and trained at the Abbey of Fulda, where he was selected to be the deacon and provost of Neuenberg in 1018. Towards the end of March in 1029 the Emperor Conrad visited Fulda and he was said to have taken special attention to the obedience of the monks and quality of their service, and he established a hospitality and care service for those injured in war. In early in 1031 Bardo was transferred to become the abbot of Hersfeld, as archbishop, Bardo is said to have spent much of his time in the company of the Salian Emperors. He completed the Mainz Cathedral in 1037, in 1041 he accompanied King Henry the Black on campaign against Bohemia. He consecrated the churches and chapels in the vacant sees of Germany, Bardo and Henry met again in May 1051 in Paderborn. On the return to Mainz he fell ill and died at modern Oberdorla, and was buried in Mainz Cathedral

7.
Bonifatius Becker
–
Bonifatius Becker OSB was the first resident abbot in more than 100 years of the Kornelimünster Abbey, a monastery near Aachen that was rebuilt in 1956. He served as abbot between 1956 and 1967 and he was born Josef Becker in Winkels, Westerwald, Hesse-Nassau, Prussia, German Empire, the oldest of 11 children. He became a bricklayer, and worked in his parents building business in Wanne-Eickel. He joined the Benedictine-Order of Ilbenstadt Abbey in 1930 as a late calling monk, there he was given his holy orders as a priest in 1937. In May 1939 he was named Prior of the Monastery Kornelimünster, Bonifatius Becker was abbot until 1967 when he had to retire due to deteriorating health. He died at Kornelimünster in 1981, photos and Newspaper items about Bonifatius Becker from a private German Website Original Documents about Bonifatius Becker from a private German Website Website of the Abbey Kornelimünster

8.
Johann Ignaz von Felbiger
–
Johann Ignaz von Felbiger was the son of a postmaster, who had been ennobled by Emperor Charles VI. The death of his parents constrained him, after studying theology at the University of Breslau, to accept the position of teacher in a private family. In 1746 he joined the Order of Canons Regular of St. Augustine at Sagan in Silesia, was ordained a priest in 1748, noting the sad condition of the local Catholic schools, he strove to improve them by publishing his first school-ordinance in 1761. Three graded catechisms, the joint work of the prior and the abbot of Sagan, appeared in 1766 under the title, Silesian Catechism, the death of von Schlabrendorff in 1769 marked the end of the Silesian governments educational efforts. Felbigers suggestions were heeded, however, by King Frederick II of Prussia in regulations issued for Silesian higher schools, in 1774 Felbinger was invited to Vienna to recommend how to reform school system of Austrian Empire. At the request of the empress, Maria Theresa, he repaired to Vienna and this school reforms were aimed to create a sense of national unity of the population of Austrian Empire and set higher education standards. The same year he published general school-ordinance, and in 1775 his most important pedagogical production and his school-reform was copied by Bavaria and other German lands and was not without influence on Russia. Considerable opposition, aroused by Felbigers arbitrariness, developed in Austria against his plan of founding schools for the neglected instruction of soldiers. Maria Theresa, however, always remained his faithful protectress, in 1776 Felbinger and Ilyrian court deputation wrote the procedures for elementary schools for Orthodox children in Banat, which were published on both German and Serbian languages. The chief peculiarity of Felbigers too mechanical method was the use of tables containing the initials of the words which expressed the lesson to be imparted, other features were the substitution of class-instruction for individual instruction and the practice of questioning the pupils. He aimed at raising the standing, financial condition, and professional qualification of the teaching body. For a list of his 78 publications, which are mainly of a pedagogical character and he died on May 17,1788, at Presburg in Hungary. Eclisse o rinnovamento della ragione pedagogica, the Expression of the Comic in the Plays of Ferdinand Raimund. Department of Germanic and Romanic Languages, Stanford University, P. F. Collier & Son Company. This article incorporates text from a now in the public domain, Herbermann, Charles

9.
Frobenius Forster
–
Frobenius Forster was a German Benedictine, Prince-Abbot of St. Emmeram. After studying the humanities and philosophy at Freising and Ingolstadt, he entered the Benedictine monastery of St. Emmeram at Ratisbon where he took vows on 8 December 1728. He made his theological studies partly at his monastery and partly at Rott, shortly after his elevation to the priesthood, in 1733, he became professor of philosophy and theology at St. Emmeram and for some time held the office of master of novices. In 1745 he was sent to the Benedictine university at Salzburg to teach philosophy, two years later he returned to his monastery where he taught philosophy and Holy Scriptures until he became librarian and prior in 1750. He had gained a reputation as a philosopher and scientist, and was one of the first religious who endeavoured to reconcile Scholastic philosophy with the Cartesian, in 1759 Forster was chosen one of the first members of the newly founded Bavarian Academy of Sciences. A year later he laid down the office of prior and was appointed provost at Hohengebraching, on 24 July 1762, he was elected as successor to the deceased Prince-Abbot Johann Baptist Kraus of St. Emmeram. Forsters election was the inauguration of the era of St. Emmeram. The learned new prince-abbot endeavoured to impart his own love for learning, forsters chief literary production is his edition of the works of Alcuin which appeared in two folio volumes at Ratisbon in 1777. It is reprinted in the Latin Patrology of Migne and he also wrote in Latin five short philosophical treatises and a dissertation on the Vulgate. From a codex preserved in the library of the chapter at Freising he edited the decrees of the Synod of Aschheim. Der Wissenschaften, and from a codex in the library of St. Emmeram he published in Mansis Collectio Ampl, conciliorum, the decrees of a Bavarian synod held during the times of the Agilolfings. This article incorporates text from a now in the public domain, Herbermann, Charles. The entry cites, ENDRES, Frobenius Forster in Strassburger theol,1, LINDNER, Die Schriftateller des Benediktiner-Ordens in Bayern, I, 56-62, SCHNEIDER in Hist. -Polit